Eclogue

An eclogue is a poem in a classical style on a pastoral subject. Poems in the genre are sometimes also called bucolics.

Related Topics:
Poem - Classical - Pastoral - Genre

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The etymology of the word is a Romanization of the Greek ekleg? (εκλεγη), meaning "a choice, selection." The term originally referred to short poems of any genre, or selections from poetry-books. The ancients referred to individual poems of Virgil's "Bucolica" as "eclogae," and the term was used by later Latin poets to refer to their own bucolic poetry, often in imitation of Virgil. The combination of Virgil's influence and the persistence of bucolic poetry through the Renaissance secured "eclogues" as the accepted term for the genre.

Related Topics:
Etymology - Greek - Virgil

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